


An Inescapable No-Win Scenario

by sladeninstitute



Category: Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-01
Updated: 2013-10-01
Packaged: 2017-12-28 03:28:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,693
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/987130
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sladeninstitute/pseuds/sladeninstitute
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A diplomatic mission to establish a new member planet of the Federation goes horribly wrong.</p>
            </blockquote>





	An Inescapable No-Win Scenario

**Author's Note:**

> Although the planet of Sivao and its felinoid inhabitants are never mentioned on screen in any Star Trek series, it is a race mentioned in the TOS novel "Uhura's Song." Most of the traits of the species mentioned here are adapted straight from the novel.
> 
> Comments and criticisms are welcome, although I think the friend I wrote this for is going to kill me once she gets hold of this, so I might not be around to read your comments!

Jim Kirk knew just how quickly things could fall apart. He had gone through his entire life waiting for something to go wrong, for the entire fabric of his existence to come crumbling down around him. That feeling of living on edge, constantly waiting for the other shoe to drop had, surprisingly, gone away since he'd become captain of the USS _Enterprise_. Jim had found a place where he belonged, immersing himself in the daily life aboard a starship with a crew that respected him and made life aboard the ship a breeze. Not only that, but Jim had found someone that he could call his own. He and Bones had started dating back in the Academy, and their relationship had carried on well into the five year mission that they were currently on.

Even though his entire job carried the risk of death and danger, he'd stopped waiting for everything to go wrong. Life had shit on him from day one, from the death of his father to the time that he'd spent on Tarsus IV. After all that, life had to give him a break, right? Wrong. All it took was one mistranslated sentence for Jim's life to fall apart again.

It had started off as a simple diplomatic mission. The planet of Sivao happened to be in talks to join the Federation, and Starfleet Command wanted the _Enterprise_ to visit the planet. Captain Kirk and his away team were tasked with scoping out the capital city, coming to a final conclusion on how well the Sivaoans would acclimate to the rules of the Federation and their way of life, and completing diplomatic talks if the Sivaoans were deemed suitable Federation candidates. The Sivaoans were felinoid, physically imposing in terms of height and strength, and quick to anger. Respect was everything to the other race, and one mistaken gesture or misplaced word could very well mean the difference between life and death. Cities were nothing more than groups of large straw huts, almost like something from the Dark Ages. It was a strange world by human standards, although the Sivaoans probably thought that Earth was strange by their standards.

Everything had gone well from the start. Jim spent his time speaking with various Sivaoan leaders, Bones had spent his morning inspecting the medical technology and techniques they'd developed, and Spock had deemed the Sivaoans to be scientifically on par with the many other Federation planets. Over a short lunch, the trio came to the final conclusion that Sivao would make an excellent member of the Federation. The only thing left to do consisted of completing the final diplomatic talks, and signing off on some treaty that Kirk vaguely understood. He hadn't quite looked over the document, but he'd been assured by everyone at Federation headquarters that it was the same document signed by every other member planet.

The final talks started off well, with the universal translator sitting right smack in between the two parties. They all stood, as the Sivaoans preferred to hold meetings on foot rather than sitting at a table. The room that the talks were held in happened to be large and rather empty, nothing but several ornate tapestries lining the walls. Jim led the discussion, occasionally turning to Mr. Spock or to Bones for input or a one off comment. The Sivaoan leaders seemed pleased with all the terms and conditions laid out in front of them, and there was no indication that anything could possibly go wrong. But when something did go wrong, it was the mother of all fuck-ups.

Although nobody from the _Enterprise_ understood what the hell had happened at first, Jim eventually pieced together what'd happened. The universal translator either made a mistake or simply malfunctioned, completely skewing one of the phrases that came out of Bones's mouth. It had simply been a declaration of how Bones was impressed with their medical techniques, but somehow the felinoid hosts took it as an insult. The file Jim had received that profiled the Sivaoans rang clear in all of their heads as soon as the first growls escaped the mouths of the leaders. _Quick to anger._ Anger was understandable, but nobody expected that their anger would extend to physical violence. Within moments, a full-scale fight had broken out between the two parties, and the Sivaoans were winning. Even Commander Spock, with his Vulcan strength, seemed to be having trouble keeping his ground. Each fight was one on one, although it was hardly a fair match.

Spock took down his opponent first, wearing the feline down with a combination of punches and phaser blasts. His fallen opponent, the elder leader, crumpled to the floor in a heap. He was not dead but simply out of commission for what Spock hoped would be a long while. With him down, Spock turned his attention to Kirk, helping the blonde out with his own fight. While those two ganged up on the middle leader, Bones was busy with the opponent that'd gone for him.

Bones had assumed the “avoid and evade” tactic, because he knew that there was no way in hell he was going to try and actually fight the cat person in front of him. He suddenly wished he'd paid more attention to the self-defence classes he'd taken back at the Academy. In a momentary lapse of judgment, Bones turned his head to look for Jim, wanting to make sure that he was okay. It was the biggest mistake he'd ever made.

The youngest leader charged at Bones from the side, practically invisible to the doctor until the last moment. With no time to move out of the way or even prepare to fight back, Bones was knocked aside and slammed into the wall. His attacker had him in a position where he couldn't move, slashing his skin to ribbons with claws sharper than the doctor had ever encountered in all his life. With no way to fight back, all Dr. McCoy could do was scream in the hopes that someone could help him. Bones's scream ringing in his ears, Jim spun around from where he was standing, blasting the attacker away with a phaser set on kill.

“Bones!” Jim was rushing to his boyfriend's side before anyone could dream of stopping him. Blood was pooling up on the floor around the older man, McCoy already turning as white as a sheet.

“Hey, Jim.” Bones tried to curl the edges of his mouth up into a smile, but it looked strained, weak, and completely out of place. “Doin' alright?” Leave it to Leonard McCoy to worry about everyone else before himself.

“M'fine. You're – you're not, though.” Tears rimmed Jim's expressive blue eyes as he looked down on his boyfriend. Even with his limited medical knowledge, Jim knew that the situation was grim. Bones tried to protest, but no words came out. Jim reached down for his communicator, wanting to get Bones up to the med bay on the _Enterprise_ ASAP. With a look of horror dawning on him, Jim realized that his communicator was gone. Nowhere to be seen, probably knocked off during the course of the fight.

“Spock!” Jim croaked out the name of his first officer, his throat dry and threatening to close up completely. The Vulcan was by his side almost instantly, communicator open and in hand as he relayed what information he had.

“I am currently in contact with the _Enterprise_. There is a malfunction with the transporter, and Mr. Scott will not be able to beam us up until the entire system reboots. He estimates that it will take between three to five minutes. I have informed him that the situation is dire, but he continues to tell me that there is little he can do to help.” Spock looked on with a pronounced lack of emotion in his Vulcan eyes, although it was highly likely that he was emotionally compromised on the inside.

“Jim. _Jim._ ” Bones could barely see his boyfriend, his field of vision narrowing down to almost nothing. “I need you to know something.” He stuck out his hand, trying to find Jim's, dying for the warmth and reassurance that came with Jim's touch. Within moments, Jim had both of his hands clasped around the one hand that Bones'd stuck out. Bones had always made jokes about how Jim was like a space heater, capable of giving off insane amounts of heat. As the coldness of death started to invade every fiber of his being, it became clear just how much he needed that heat.

“First off...” Bones took in a deep breath, although Jim would later describe it as a death rattle. “First off, I love you. Y'know that? Secondly, I -” Bones tried to laugh, a weak noise that made it clear just how bad off he was. “I may throw up on you.” It was a throwback to their first meeting on the shuttle to the Academy, all those years ago.

“I think these things are pretty safe.” There was no way Jim could've said anything else, and it'd been a struggle to get that much out. Bones closed his eyes and let out a shudder. “Bones?” Jim gave him a shake, wishing against all odds that the doctor had just lost consciousness. “Bones!” There was no time for him to say anything else. The thick accent of the _Enterprise_ 's engineering chief crackled outwards from the comm.

“Aye, the transporter is fully functionin' and op-rative, sir! I can beam yeh back on yer command!” Scotty tried to sound cheerful, but at that particular moment Jim felt like there was no reason in the world to be cheerful. The light of his life had just died underneath him and there wasn't a damn thing he could do about it. The man that'd given Jim Kirk a reason to keep going was gone. What reason did anybody have to be cheerful? Silently and swiftly, Kirk snatched Spock's communicator from him and spoke into it.

“Beam us up, Mr. Scott” his voice was a deathly whisper, indicative of a man broken. “There are funeral arrangements to be made.”


End file.
